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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]i live in Bethesda. The huge, hideous high-rises approved with no green spaces or community amenities (and enormous, multi-year tax breaks to developers) kill any sense of community. They destroy any beauty or ability of small retailers to thrive. Bethesda was always a bit of a bedroom community, but I remember the ice skating rink over the Metro station, which was a real community destination. The developer was allowed to build on condition that the skating rink be built. But after a few years, the developer tired of it and converted it to some kind of pebble park. 
We've lost a lot of community gathering spaces for these luxury high-rises: they tore down the Regal Movie Theater, and have blocked the street (Elm Street) leading up to the destroyed cinema for YEARS. There is no community center (so jealous of Silver Spring) and no place now where Bethesdans can see first-run movies, or child-friendly movies. I love Bethesda Row Cinema, but they don't show blockbusters or child-friendly movies.

In short, they're not building anything the current residents can use. And what they are building creates a place where rich singletons can change clothes and do laundry and then socialize in DC. And EVERYTHING they're building is an ugly glass box. After my children graduate from high school, we're moving away. There will be nothing here for them. [/quote]

Well lots of other people obviously want to live there as property values continue to go up so someone will gladly buy what your home, probably at a great profit to you.

And what are you blathering on about when it comes to green spaces or community amenities?  None of the new buildings were built on green spaces or replaced community amenities - a few buildings did replace surface parking lots but most of what is going up replaced older low-rise commercial office and retail buildings.

If you live in Bethesda do you know what will be a great community amenity once it is built?  The Purple Line and the greatly improved and extended Capital Crescent Trail.  And maybe you don't get out much but there are all sorts of existing community amenities in and near downtown Bethesda.

But I really don't get all of the nostalgic yearning for the Bethesda of yesteryear - downtown Bethesda was always kind of meh as far as I am concerned - lots of strip malls and surface parking lots and there was a lot of traffic even 35 years ago. The retail is a but more yuppified than it used to be and some restaurants have come and gone but mostly it is and always was bland suburbia.

But the really stupid thing is that the vast majority of Bethesda was and remains low density single family homes.  The area of land that has been changed by the upzoning around the Metro station is probably less than 2% of the total land area of Bethesda (please look at a map if you don't believe me).  All of the tearing down of modest single family homes and replacing them with McMansions probably covers more land area and has changed the character of a higher percentage of Bethesda than the re-development of the small now urban core around the Metro station.[/quote]

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